Chicago Columnist Illinois Review · Political Strategist Analyst · Expert Advisor Institute for Truth in Accounting

SEIFFE:  Obama's Personnel Problem

Friday, November 21, 2008 

By Ralf Seiffe

The nearby cartoon confirms the news media’s buzz over the precipitating Obama cabinet with all noticing that it is Clinton redux. The mainstreamers are mainlining the prospective administration’s positioning that these appointments are stellar choices of America’s “best and brightest”.   It is, according to one pundit, “a refreshing break with the past when a new president would arrive with his buddies in tow.”  This is a load of malarkey.  Barack Obama is appointing Clinton retreads precisely because he does not have any of his own buddies to tap.

Professional friendships of the sort that result in cabinet appointments are forged over years of work that create common frames of reference.  From these, a new executive develops an accurate appreciation of a subordinate’s talents and a degree of trust in their judgment.  The value of this kind of long-term relationship is that the executive can use the subordinate to take on tasks and be comfortable that the outcome will reflect his own values.  The ability to extend one’s self is the mark of an effective executive.

Generally, the events that make political “buddies” are the accomplishments a resume reports.  Obama’s difficulty is that his resume’ is too thin to have developed a retinue of buddies that the American people will accept.  Indeed, the entire catalog of Obama’s professional history is one of ‘distancing himself” from the colleagues and organizations he served.  These include disavowing the druggies in school, denying both associations with Bill Ayers, ending the generation-long attendance at Pastor Wright’s church and minimizing his close and strategic relationship with ACORN. 

President-elect Obama, like all new executives, is faced with the necessary task of populating his new administration.  This means working with people he does not know, who may have agendas that aren’t evident or even congruent with his.  The value of buddies are that they are loyal.  They help the president identify those individuals who will help advance the agenda and act in the president’s best interests.  It’s hard to see how the Clintons’ people fit that description.

Ralf Seiffe advises business start-ups and product launches from Chicago, Illinois and is a political analyst and columnist for the Illinois Leader and Illinois Review.

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